Anytime You Need a Friend
by Secret-Universe
Summary: Tigger is starting to feel lonely again and sends out a wish... one person had replied to his request, who could it be and will she make things better?
1. Who Will Befriend Me?

There is a grand place, a place where a young boy loved to play, and had an enchanted childhood; along with a rare secret…his stuffed animals lived there in the place, the 100 Acre Wood. The lovable bear Pooh, the stuttering pink Piglet, the always-joyful Tigger, the hard-working and tempered Rabbit, the somewhat wise old Owl, the caring mother Kanga of her little one Roo, the gloomy old Eeyore, and many other friends who lived in the woods. It wasn't too long before one of these friends wished… for a real friend… he felt lonely… but why don't we get to that now, shall we?

It began on a cloudy night, the stars shone their brightest and the moon was a crescent for that night. Everything was quiet, only included with the croaks of frogs, the music of the crickets and the babblings of the brook. It seems very peaceful indeed…until a shadowed figure darted from tree to tree, carrying something round in its grasp. His long swift tail and cat-looking posture gave away the fact it was the bouncy friend of Winnie the Pooh. But what would he be doing out so late? With the fireflies seeming to guide his way to the small bridge, Tigger looked behind him, slowly tip-toeing backwards, as if watching for somebody in case someone followed him. Two frogs just looked at each other before watching the young tiger cautiously making his way to the bridge. No one was out that night other then him, so he then made a dash for the bridge and looked over at the river underneath him. He still looked back just in case and stared at the items in his paws; a note and an empty Honey Pot, that he 'barrowed' from old Long Ears, Rabbit that is. He saw Christopher Robin do something like this before, and what were the words again?

"_A wish is like sending a request down the river, if you really wish and believe enough._"

Tigger admitted, he had been pretty lonely earlier that day. No one had any time to bounce with him, Pooh with the bees, Piglet with his house chores, and obviously Rabbit wouldn't bother since he wanted to focus more on his precious garden. Well, this was his wish he had written, as best as he could since he and the others were still learning how to spell and stuff. Carefully rolling it up, he placed the note inside the jar, and looked over the edge before holding out the pot in both hands… and dropped it, into the water below. Since he also remembered the lid, that was on there too, so his note wouldn't get soaked. As it sailed away to who knows where, he left silently back for his own home… now all he had to do was wait…

* * *

><p>As much as we would know, the honey pot was making a long journey of its own with the wish inside and floating along in the water, avoiding many obstacles, such as huge waves, creatures of the water, birds of the skies, and if I may add, huge thunderstorms that dared each other to sink the honey jar, but it still floated along despite what was shoved in its way. It had a wish to deliver and it wasn't going to be stopped so easily if you thought it would be.<p>

* * *

><p>After what seemed about a few days, the pot had reached an unknown destination, a place not quite like the 100 Acre Wood but it seemed so lovely, with birds filling the skies that smelled like peppermint, little houses of the brightest colors and fancy designs. A place that belonged to only one type of creature… one of these creatures happened along as the sun was starting to rise up, mixing the air with orange, yellow and purple. We could only see this figure from the leg… or legs, pink ones in fact, down. With its face shadowed, revealing bright crystal blue eyes, it glanced curiously at the honey pot, and seemed to lick its lips and took off the top, expecting the golden creamy sticky goodness, but instead… there was Tigger's wish inside. The figure sniffed it and looked around, possibly looking for the owner of this jar, but found no one. Shrugging, it picked up the jar with its mouth and carried it onto shore, slowly and even carefully took out the note, which became a little soaked over its wild ride and journey, and as it slowly unrolled before its…hooves? Yes, I'll explain that bit later. Anyways, the figure carefully read the note, as it managed to spell out…<p>

_I need a friend…_

_Tigger._


	2. Tiggers do not like Rabbits

I suppose you were all wondering what was going on while the honey pot had been making its journey before it had reached its destination. And what was happening with Tigger right now? Of course he's still waiting but it took longer then he had expected. So after the previous night he had delivered his hoping wish, he was still resting in bed the next morning. He didn't get much sleep and didn't want to bother right now with his morning pounces on his fellow neighbors. The young tiger figured they'd be too busy anyhow and probably wouldn't notice any difference with him gone… the sunlight snuck in through his window and danced a small dance on his face as he growled in a groaning way and pulled the blanket over his head, but then sighed and sat up, rubbing his black beady eyes before climbing out of his bed, which by the way was a drawer and walked slowly to his door, opening it and stepping outside. He stretched a bit and looked over the landscape of the 100 Acre Wood. He sighed a little again and bounced his way down from his tree house home, walking on to find the others.

He hadn't gone too far as he noticed most of his friends gathered around at Rabbit's place. There was Owl, Eeyore, Pooh, Piglet, Kanga and Roo. Also Rabbit was there too and he didn't look very happy today… pretty much, he wasn't happy any day.

"Why are we here for?" asked Pooh, scratching behind his ear.

"Yes, is there a p-p-problem?" stuttered Piglet, fiddling nervously.

Rabbit paced back and forth, pouting, "_One stolen honey pot…_" He then turned to face the group, "I suppose none of you had anything missing this morning?"

They shook their heads in response. Tigger, watching from far off, frowned a bit. He only borrowed the honey pot for his wish last night… but he didn't steal it, for all he knew. He gripped his tail in his hands a little, twisting it.

"For being a donkey, I don't have very much, not that anyone cares…" the gloomy donkey murmured quietly in a low voice, while digging his foot in the dirt.

"We've never ad any honey pots missing ourselves." Kanga replied, as Roo nodded but then noticed the tiger in the corner of his eye but Tigger, seeing him, gestured not to reveal he was here just yet.

"I could use a small smackrel right about now," Pooh patted his tummy which growled in return.

"Well, in my case, I counted only 10, count that, TEN honey pots this morning, including the disappearance of just one!" the greenish-yellow bunny muttered bitterly, "Either we have Heffalumps or Woozles again, or it was…"

"But Lumpy isn't bad." Roo spoke up. Good, Tigger didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him yet. For some reason, he didn't want to be seen by them.

Rabbit, hearing the young kangaroo, blushed embarrassed, "Oh well, of course not, Roo. I might've been talking about some other Heffalumps and Woozles."

"But what will we d-d-d-do about it, Rabbit?" Piglet wanted to know. It was mostly Rabbit's problem, so why did they have to be involved?

"Because, Piglet!" Rabbit pointed a random finger in the air, looking determined, "Whoever took my honey pot will possibly go after one of yours! We've got to do something to prevent this from happening again!"

"Well said, my dear Rabbit." Owl fluttered his wings, having to be quiet the longest.

"Oh bother…" Pooh then also noticed, the same way Roo did, was Tigger trying to sneak off to somewhere, possibly back to his tree house…

"Hello, Tigger!"

This made the tiger cringe in place, his tail stiff. Oh why did Pooh have to be so naïve sometimes? He looked back at the others and gave a small wave, as Rabbit seemed to smile about how his plan might work.

"Oh Tigger," the rabbit began to say, "Would you be so kind to join the meeting later tonight, it'll be at my house."

The tiger grew mute… and just shook his head, "No thanks, Long Ears."

"But we will be discussing plans on how to catch the honey pot thieves, and…"

A growl was his response. With that, Tigger stared and then walked off again, flicking his tail along the way. Rabbit gave a dumbfounded look; did Tigger just ignore him? Even the others had noticed this and looked a bit concerned.

Roo looked upward to make eye-contact with Kanga, "Is he okay, Mama?"

"Maybe he just had a rough night," She petted his son's head. Little did she know this, but she was indeed right about Tigger not getting much sleep from the previous evening.

Later, back at his tree house, Tigger popped out from behind his dresser with a party hat and a grin that seemed to be forced onto his face. He stared around his room, which he had decorated just to look like a party with objects he created to look like other people. "Welcome to the house of Tigger! It means so much to me!" Despite getting no responses, the tiger went about as if the objects themselves were talking to him and he played with them a bit like puppets.

"_May I have some more punch?_" He spoke in a small voice for a fruit and then smiled in his normal voice, "Oh yes, of course you can, Mr. Apple sir!" As he brought a cup of punch, he bounced next to a pile of three large stones with a party hat on top of the first rock and then mimicked a low voice.

"_This is a great party; you sure have outdone yourself this time!_" Tigger then said, his normal voice back, "Thank you very much, I worked hard on this." He cringed a bit with an eye twist but shook it off. Was he starting to loose his mind? He shrugged and hopped over to a flour bag, "_If I may have some cake?_"

"Yes, indeed, Miss Flour ma'am." He pushed with his nose a slice of chocolate cake.

"_Why must you be so sad?_" The apple seemed to be talking on its own now, "_Is this because of your friends?_"

"Oh don't be ridic-ker-rus." Tigger smiled his biggest, "They're not so bad." His eyes twitched again.

"_Perhaps your new best friend will be so much more better then them._" The rocks inquired.

"Maybe, but…" Tigger frowned. Was his wish just a waste of time?

The flour bag whispered to him, "_But your new best friend will be so much more better… then that Rabbit._"

That was right and even Tigger knew it… Rabbit was the reason he had been feeling lonely… "Yeah… yeah, that's right!"

"_Like that time he tried to lose you in the forest mist?_" the flour bag added.

Tigger frowned, being proud, "Well, Tiggers never get lost."

The apple jumped up, "_And he made you promise not to bounce after you got stuck in that tree!_"

"I was afraid of heights that time…"

The rocks finally got to him, "_And when you pounced Donkey Boy and he didn't even give you a second chance to apologize to him._"

Tigger gave a firm nod in agreement, "It was only just a joke, but even Long Ears would know that!" He then frowned, "Maybe my new bestest friend will be so much better!"

The apple, rocks and flour bag clapped and gave phrase to him as he smiled proudly. In reality, however, he was just moving them around making it sound like they were giving his congratulations… then a knock interrupted.

Tigger gave a small yelp, "Gasp! Could that be them already?"

The door slowly swung open… there stood the one and only Rabbit. The tiger frowned, he felt like wanting this unwanted guest out of his home for once. The rabbit welcomed himself inside and then spoke up, taking some notice of the party that wasn't going so well anyhow and frowned, "Is this how you're going to welcome our thief? With a welcome party, is that it?"

Tigger rolled his eyes and grumbled, "If you wanted it that way, Long Ears…"

Rabbit then also noticed the apple, rocks and flour bag. Something else didn't feel right here… "Well, I _was _just coming over to remind you about the meeting at my house."

"No thanks," Tigger hopped behind the table, "I'd rather be with my friends right here." He ducked under a bit but rose up again, seeing the rabbit was still here. Rabbit was not at all looking impressed.

"Please, play these imaginary games later." He marched forward, as Tigger growled, "What we really need to deal with right now, is…"

The young tiger shoved the bag of flour forward, speaking for it, "_He's not going anywhere, young man!_"

"Exact-tickly!" Tigger turned his away and scoffed, "Tiggers have no interest in meetings."

Rabbit just sighed and pushed the flour aside, "I think it just be best if you come with me…" Tigger pushed the rocks in place next.

"_He said he's not going anywhere, chump!_"

Rabbit quickly grew angry at the insult, "What did you just call me?" the rocks tumbled over in response. He slapped his forehead, feeling silly, "Okay that's it. The party's over." He hopped over to the other side behind the orange feline, "Come on, Tigger."

He stamped his foot, crossing his arms, "No!"

Rabbit frowned, "Tigger you're being ridiculous. Now let's go!"

Was this rabbit even listening? "I said 'No!'" He then felt him starting to push from behind and planted his feet firmly downward, preventing from moving.

Rabbit kept pushing despite that, "_You… have to… come with… me!_"

That did it for Tigger as he slapped his hands on the floor, "**No…**" He then raised his behind as Rabbit fell on his face, "**I…**" With that, he finally sat on the rabbit's head, "**DON'T!**" Rabbit screamed underneath, trying to pull out from underneath the stubborn tiger, who just sat there firmly. Finally, he pulled out but that caused him to crash into Tigger's closet as junk spilled out and he dug his way out of the mess.

"Oh I see…" Rabbit pouted, "We have to do this the hard way, then-"

"_**Just. Go.**_"

Tigger didn't even look at him with his head down. Rabbit got out and walked next to Tigger, who was hiding his face from him, growling.

"Just what is…?"

Without warning, Rabbit got shoved right out the doorway, "getting glared at by a very angry Tigger. The bunny shivered in alarm. He had never seen him so angry before… so furious… he threw his party hat off, walking forward and Rabbit yelped, getting out of the way.

"**Out! Now!**" Tigger shouted, as Rabbit scrambled to his feet, "**I've had enough, Long Ears! Now scram!**" With that the door slammed and Rabbit fell, almost tumbling to the ground and looked up at the closed door. Didn't Tigger care about these thieves? And what had he, the rabbit, done to deserve such a reaction? He just asked him to join their meeting and instead, he was thrown out… more like, shoved out. Getting to his feet shakingly, he rushed off. Unknowing to him, Tigger had been watching from his window, frowned and drew the curtains closed.


End file.
